Cliven Bundy, Conservative Folk Hero, Says Blacks May Have Been ‘Better Off As Slaves’

Offering words of encouragement for a rancher leading an armed standoff against federal rangers turns out to be not so great of a political move—especially when the rancher in question muses publicly about the benefits of slavery.<
From the Times’ Adam Nagourney:

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids—and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch—they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

Based on his age, no one should be surprised at his ignorant remark. If he thinks it was so much better, why doesn’t he give up all he has and allow himself to live like that for the rest of his life, and then tell us if he still agrees.